Universal carburetor-manifold adaptor



Jan. 30, 1968 E, LOHN 3,366,145

I UNIVERSAL CARBURETOR-MANIFOLD ADAPTOR Filed June 2;, 1965 frra/P/vix sin marine and other vehicular use, and in power take-off engines.

United States Patent 3,366,145 UNIVERSAL CARBURETOR-MANIFGLD ADAPTOREdwin E. Lohn, 231 S. Peck Drive, Beverly Hills, Calif. 90212 Filed June21, 1965, Ser. No. 465,442 4 Claims. (Cl. 13839) ABSTRACT 0F THEDISCLQSURE This invention relates generally to adapting structure forsecuring a carburetor body to the intake manifold of an internalcombustion engine and more particularly to a unitary adaptor forsecuring any one of a large number of carburetors to any one of a largenumber of manifolds.

Although the present invention finds particularly useful application inthe field of high performance or experimental engines and in automobileengine hobbyist endeavors; and although, for the sake of clarity andbrevity,

much of the discussion of examples of the invention presentedhereinbelow relate thereto, it is to be understood that the utility andusefulness of the invention is manifest equally advantageously in otherapplications as well, such as, for example, in high economy and stockautomobiles, stationary or In automobile power plant system design, oneof the most important and critical criteria in determining powerdelivery, fuel economy, reliability or any desired optimum between theseand other operational aspects of such engines, is the combination of aparticular carburetor design with the remainder of the power plantsystem, or, that is, the engine per se. Consequently a designer,research experimentor, or purchaser for use of engines frequentlydesires or needs to combine his own choice of carburetor with theremainder of the engine system. The researcher or hobbyist may selecthis own or many different carburetor-engine combinations for reasonsranging from commercial engine research, for example, to mereintellectual curiosity on the part of a juvenile hobbyist. Thecommercial user purchaser, on the other hand, often selects an enginebest suited basically for his needs, and then chooses, for his ownparticular application, a different optimum between performance andeconomy thereby requiring a different carburetor from that supplied withthe basic engine by the manufacturer of the power plant system.

Accordingly there is a very active practice of adapting carburetors toengines in combinations neither contemplated nor provided for by theengine manufacturer. Furthermore, because of the large number of engineand carburetor manufacturers, and because of the unpredictable desireson the part of the purchaser to combine, for example, extremely largecarburetors with extremely small engines and vice versa, it is usuallyrequired that the purchaser make or obtain a special and particularadaptor apparatus for securing together his particular enginecarburetorcombination. This is a troublesome requirement, and often is difficultto satisfy. Furthermore, he-

cause of the time and trouble and expense required by the process ofadapting a particular carburetor to a particular engine, the usertypically settles for a combination of carburetor and engine for whichan adaptor may be already on hand or can be readily found, orfabricated, thus comprising the research process or the users otherwiseoptimum combination.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide acarburetor-manifold adaptor apparatus which is not subject to these andother disadvantages and deficiencies of prior art adaptor approaches,techniques, and structures.

It is another object to provide such a carburetor-manifold adaptor whichuniversally adapts between a very large number of carburetors and enginemanifolds.

It is another object to provide such a carburetor-manifold adaptorapparatus which is structurally rugged and unitary.

It is another object to provide such carburetor-manifold adaptor which,while being a universal adaptor, is relatively inexpensive andcomparable in cost to a conventional non-universal adaptor.

It is another object to provide such apparatus which provides smoothtransition in fuel-mixture flow between carburetor throat and themanifold ducts irrespective of whether a large carburetor is fitted to asmall engine or a small carburetor to a large engine.

Very briefly, these and other objects and advantages are achieved inaccordance with the structural aspects of one example of the inventionwhich includes a thick, substantially flat plate adaptor body which isformed with a plurality of sets of retainer holes about its periphery atdifferent radial distances from the center of the adaptor body. hecombination of retainer holes thusly provided include sets of holeswhich mate with corresponding respective sets of holes provided in themounting flanges of a large number of engine intake manifolds. At thesame time the different sets of retainer holes also mate with a largenumber of sets of carburetor bolt-down holes.

Fuel-mixture flow ports are also provided through the 'thickness of theadaptor body. The ports are provided in the form of truncatedcylindrical surfaces, and, in some forms of the invention, conicalsurfaces whose axes converge or tend toward converging, at a distancefrom the adaptor body in the direction toward the apexes of the conicalsurfaces. Thus, in such examples, the ports extend through the adaptorplate body from substantially circular smaller openings, whose centersare more closely spaced on one face thereof, to substantially circular,larger openings, whose centers are more Widely spaced on the other faceof the adaptor body.

The adaptor is reversible and the ports thusly formed provide in oneorientation thereof, a smooth transition from a small carburetor to alarge engine, or, when reversed by turning it over, a transition from alarge carbure tor to a small engine.

The retainer holes are of special construction for retaining, flush,when desired, special retainer nuts as for securing the adaptor body tothe mounting flange of a manifold and yet providing a flat surface overthe retainer 'nuts for a subsequent sealing, juxtapositionedrelationship FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of FIG. 1taken along the sectional reference lines 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a grou of three elevational views of an example of a retainingnut portion of a universal carburetor adaptor combination constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partially elevational, partially sectional view of anexample of the invention in a typical utilization in an internalcombustion engine application; and

FIG. 5 is a view like that of FIG. 4 showing the same example of theinvention in an alternative utilization.

With specific reference now to the figures in more detail, it isstressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and forpurposes of illustrative discussion only, and are presented in the causeof providing what is believed to be the most useful and readilyunderstood description of the principles and structural concepts of theinvention. In this regard no attempt is made to show structural detailsof the apparatus in more detail than is necessary for a fundamentalunderstanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawingmaking apparent to those skilled in the arts of internal combustionengines and carburetors in particular, how the special forms of theinvention may be embodied in practice. Specifically, the detailedshowing is not to be taken as a limitation upon the scope of theinvention which is defined in the appended claims forming, along withthe drawing, a part of this specification.

In FIG. 1, an example of a universal carburetor adaptor is shown whichincludes a body member 12 which is substantially in the form of a thick,fiat plate having an upper, as viewed in the drawing, surface 14 and alower surface 16, which are mutually parallel and substantially planar.For reference purposes, of use in the following description, the bodymember 12 may be considered as having an approximate center designatedat 18.

A plurality of sets 20, 22, 24 of retaining apertures are providedthrough the thickness of the body member 12 as shown. Each of the setsof retaining apertures, in this example, includes four individualapertures, arranged in a substantially square array in a quadraturerelationship about the center 18 of the body member 12. Each of the setscomprises apertures which are disposed at a predetermined radialdistance from the center 18, with the apertures of the different setsbeing disposed at a different distance from those of the other sets.Thus the retainer apertures of the set 20 are substantially equidistantfrom the center 18 at a distance which is less than that of the sets 22,24. Similarly the individual retainer apertures of the set 24 aredisposed at a distance from the center 18 which is greater than that forthe apertures of the sets 20, 22, while the radial distance to theretainer apertures of the set 22 from the center 18 is intermediatethose of the apertures of the sets 20, 24. Further details of thestructure of the retainer apertures will be shown and discussed inconnection with FIG. 2 below.

In the example of the invention selected for presentation here as beinga presently preferred embodiment thereof, the particular universalcarburetor adaptor shown is of the character generally, for adaptingfour barrel carburetors to internal combustion engines. To particularlyadvantageously serve this end, the body member 12 of this example of theinvention, is shown to be apertured to provide in its central portions,a plurality of four fuel-mixture flow ports 26, 28, 30, 32. These portsin this four barrel arrangement are also disposed in a substantiallysquare array in quadrature about the center 18 of the body member 12. Ofparticular note however, is the fact that each of the mixture flow portsis formed substantially in the form of a conical surface which istruncated by the upper and lower surfaces 14, 16 of the body member, sothat the intersection of the conical surface of each of the fuel mixtureflow ports with the upper or lower surface of the body member defines asubstantially circular opening therethrough.

It may further be noted that in this example the apexes of the conicalsurfaces would be disposed at a distance from the body member 12 in thedirection therefrom to the surface 16, so that the diameters of the flowport open ings in the lower surface 16 are smaller than the diam etersof the flow port openings through the upper surface 14. It may furtherbe pointed out that the axes of the four conical surfaces forming thefuel mixture flow ports, are transverse to the surfaces 14, 16, but arenot necessarily normal thereto; and in a presently preferred arrangement of the invention, these axes would converge or tend to converge ata distance from the body member 12 to the side indicated by the surface16 thereof. By this means the centers of the substantially circularopenings of the fuel mixture flow ports in the surface 16 are moreclosely spaced than are those of the substantially circular openings inthe upper surface 14.

The advantageous purpose of the axes being thusly divergently oriented,is to provide a smooth transitional flow between a large carburetor anda small engine intake manifold or, similarly, from a small carburetor toa large engine manifold. In other words, if the fuel mixture flow outputfrom a small carburetor is to be expanded into the ducting of a largerintake manifold, each of the fuel mixture flow ports by its conicalshape begins the expansion process, while the diverging of the conicalaxes of the array of ports begins the process of smoothly distributingthe carburetor output to the entire internal regions of the intakemanifold.

For convenience in the use of the adaptor as well as for purposes ofmaximizing accessibility to the carburetor and manifold of the enginesystem and to preserve raw materials, the sets of retaining apertures20, 22, 24 may be formed in ear-like extensions 34 of the body member12.

Referring to FIG. 2, the sectional view through one of the retainingapertures of the set 21) formed through the root portion of one of theear-like extensions 34, shows that the retainer aperture includes adepression having a short, regular hexagonal prism shape, the axis ofwhich is normal to the upper surface 14 and which extends there frominto the thickness of the body member 12, by a distance which isapproximately one-fourth to one-third of the thickness thereof. Asimilar hexagonal depression coaxial with the first extends upwardlyinto the body member 12 from the lower surface 16. The two hexagonalportions are joined by a coaxial reduced diameter cylindrical portion 36which forms, at its intersections with the hexagonal portions, a pair ofretaining shoulders 38, 40.

Referring to FIG. 3, an example of a retainer nut 42 is shown which isparticularly adapted to be received and retained by the retaineraperture shown in FIG. 2, whether inserted from the surface 16 or thesurface 14. The retainer nut 42 includes a hexagonal portion 44 having alength approximately equal to the depth of the hexagonal portions of theretainer aperture of FIG. 2, and a reduced diameter cylindrical portion46, the outer diameter of which is approximately equal to the diameterof the cylindrical portion 36 of the retainer aperture of FIG. 2.Accordingly, the retainer nut 42 may, as indicated above, be insertedinto the body member 12 from either of its surfaces 14, 16 with thecylindrical portion 46 being received within the cylindrical portion 36of the retainer aperture. In this example the entire length of theretainer nut 42 is internally threaded to engage, in a tensionsupporting relationship, a retaining bolt, as shown in the subsequentfigures.

Referring to FIG. 4, the universal carburetor adaptor 10 is shownmounted between a manifold 48 and a carburetor 50. In this example, theadaptor is being utilized to form a structural and functional transitionbetween a relatively small carburetor 50 and a relatively large manifold48. To this end, the body member 12 of the carburetor adaptor 10 isfirst afiixed by a set of mounting bolts 52 inserted through the set ofretainer apertures 20, to the base and mounting portions 54 of thecarburetor 50. The heads of the bolts 52 are of a length and diametersuch that they are totally recessed within the retaining apertures 20.

The body member 12 of the adaptor is, for such a utilization as herepictured, mounted with the surface 14 in the downward position and thesurface 16 in the upward position, so that the fairing of the flowports, such as 26, 32 is, as shown, from the smaller carburetorexpanding into the larger manifold. With the adaptor body member 12thusly aflixed to the carburetor 50, the adapted assembly may then besecured to the mounting flange 60 of the manifold 48, by means of a setof mounting bolts 62 which pass through and engage retainer nuts 42within the set of retainer apertures 24. When desired or advisable,appropriate gasoline sealing gaskets may be compressively retainedbetween the planar surfaces of the adaptor body member 12 and therespectively juxtaposed ones of the carburetor manifold.

Referring to FIG. 5, a utilization of the universal carburetor adaptor10 is illustrated, in which a relatively large carburetor 62 is securedto a relatively small intake manifold 64. In such a utilization thesurface 14 of the body member 12 is mounted toward the carburetor 62while the surface 16 is mounted in juxtaposition with the manifold 64.In this manner the fuel mixture fiow ports are seen to be in anorientation such as to cause the initiating of a convergence of the fuelfrom the large carburetor into the small confines of the manifold 64. Inthis utilization, hexagonal head retaining bolts 66 may be utilized in amanner such that the hexagonal heads are retained rotationally as wellas longitudinally by the hexagonal retaining portion of the retainerapertures of the set 20, while their length extends through a mountingflange 68 of the manifold 64, where a set of matingly threaded nuts 70may be firmly secured thereto. The body of the carburetor 62 maysimilarly be firmly affixed to the body member 12 of the carburetoradaptor by a set or" mounting screws 72 which pass through the retainerapertures of the set 22, in this example, into a corresponding set ofthreaded bolt down means formed in the carburetor body, as shown, whilethe retaining shoulder 40 of each of the retainer apertures supports theincumbent tension in the mounting screws 72.

There have thus been disclosed a number of examples, and structuralaspects thereof, of a universal carburetor adaptor which achieves theobjects and exhibits the advantages set forth and discussed hereinabove.

What is claimed is: 1. Universal carburetor-manifold adaptor comprising:a thick, fiat plate body member having first and second substantiallyplanar and mutually parallel surfaces separated by the thickness of saidbody member;

said body member being formed to define sets of retainer aperturesextending normally therethrough and disposed contiguously to the edgeperiphery thereof, the array disposition of each said set matching thatof standard carburetors and engine intake manifolds, each said sethaving a quadrature array disposition which is different from that ofeach of the other of said sets;

each of said retaining apertures being formed to ine u e nu a d belthead receiving means counterformed from each of said first and secondsurfaces into said body member in a manner to form a recessed retainingshoulder for either of said nut and bolt head;

said adaptor body member being further apertured to form a plurality offuel mixture flow ports through a central portion thereof, said flowports each defining a conical surface truncated by each of said firstand second surfaces whereby the conical section formed by theintersection of said conical surface with said first planar surfaces issubstantially a circle of a first diameter and that of said conicalsurface with said second planar surface is substantially circular with adiameter larger than said first diameter said ports being definedwhereby the conical axes thereof converge at a distance from said bodymember to the side centrally thereof designated by said first planarsurface.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said body member isformed to define four of said fuel mixture flow ports, the conical axesof which tend to converge at a distance from said body member to theside thereof designated said first surface.

3. The invention according to claim 1 in which each of said retainerapertures is formed in the shape of a right prism surface having aregular hexagonal cross-section extending inwardly symmetrically fromeach of said first and second planar surfaces for a predetermined axiallength equal to approximately one-fourth to one-third the thickness ofsaid body member to said retaining shoulder which comprises and isformed by a reduced diameter portion of said retainer aperture anddisposed midway between said first and second planar surfaces.

4. The invention according to claim 3 which further includes a pluralityof threaded retainer nuts having a hexagonal body portion and acylindrical, reduced diameter extension portion coaxial therewith formedintegrally axially adjacent thereto, said hexagonal portion having anaxial length not greater than said predetermined axial length of saidright prism portion of each of said retainer apertures, the outerdiameter of said reduced diameter portion of said threaded retainer nutbeing approximately equal to that of said reducer diameter portion ofsaid retainer aperture, said retainer nut being internally threaded forsubstantially the total length of both said hexagonal and reduceddiameter portions thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,515,408 11/1924 Puffer 13840 X1,704,939 3/1929 Gravel 285-178 X 2,072,893 3/1937 Lee 285177 2,377,8526/1945 Bliifert 138-40 X 2,760,371 8/1956 Borden 138-40 X 3,075,5591/1963 Sharp et a1. 13837 3,128,794 4/1964 Boucher et a1. 13837 FOREIGNPATENTS 207,296 3/1957 Australia.

SAMUEL ROTHBERG, Primary Examiner. BRADFORD KILE, Assistant Examiner.

